/*
** Copyright (c) 2008 Mobile GCalendarManager
**
** Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person
** obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation
** files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without
** restriction, including without limitation the rights to use,
** copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
** copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the
** Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following
** conditions:
**
** The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be
** included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
**
** THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
** EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES
** OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND
** NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT
** HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY,
** WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING
** FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR
** OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
*/

/**
 *
 */
package au.edu.mq.comp.itec800.mgc.ui.cli;

/**
 * Interface for command handlers.
 * This is a basic interface, which only provides a few methods to manage
 * commands.
 * <ul>
 *  <li>
 *    execute(args): a method to be called by a command-launcher for
 *    the action to be processed.
 *  </li>
 *  <li>
 *    help(): a method used to retrieve the current command's help
 *    message.
 *  </li>
 *  <li>
 *    name(): a method returning the command's name
 *    (used to mask enum classes)
 *  </li>
 *  <li>
 *    needsAuthentication(): a method used to determine dynamically if
 *    the current command requires prior authentication to be run.
 *  </li>
 * </ul>
 *
 *
 * @author Laurent Malvert [laurent.malvert@students.mq.edu.au]
 */
public interface ICommand
{
  public boolean  execute(final String ... args);

  public String   help();

  public String   name();

  public boolean  needsAuthentication();

  public ICommand getMaster();

  public boolean  isAlias();

  public ICommand getTopMaster();
}
